British trio gets trial delay in Enron scheme

JOHN C. ROPER, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle |
August 1, 2006

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The setting of a trial date is on hold while two of three former bankers from England secure American lawyers to represent them in Enron-related charges, a federal judge ruled today.

The men were extradited to the U.S. two weeks ago to face trial on criminal charges related to their roles in a alleged scheme to have their former employer sell back its stake in a deal tied to the former energy giant.

Prosecutors allege that with the help of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, they reaped more than $7 million from the deal.

So far, only David Bermingham has hired an attorney — Houston criminal defense lawyer Dan Cogdell. Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew hired attorneys to represent them in their bond hearing, but told a judge today they needed more time to hire lawyers for their trial, which was scheduled to start Sept. 11.

U.S. Magistrate Stephen Smith agreed to wait to set the trial date, but admonished Darby and Mulgrew for hiring attorneys to represent them for only their bond hearing, saying he was "not aware" of the setup.

"We frown on that practice here because it leaves defendants like yourself in a lurch," Smith said.

Darby said he was negotiating with an attorney and hopes to have representation by the end of the week. Mulgrew told Smith he was still selling assets in England to pay his legal fees but hoped to have a lawyer within the next few weeks.

Smith told Darby to return to court on Friday to report his progress. Mulgrew was instructed to send a letter to the court by next Tuesday updating his situation.

The defendants, known as the Natwest Three, had to raise between $80,000 and $150,000 in cash to secure a portion of their $1 million bonds, which Cogdell told the judge had been paid.

Bermingham and Darby have until late October to raise an additional $250,000 and Mulgrew must raise another $100,000 or they will end up in government custody.

Following the brief hearing, Mulgrew said he was "going to sell everything I have, basically."

"At the end of the day, there's nothing you can do," Mulgrew said, shrugging his shoulders. "You've got to defend yourself."

The three have been ordered to live separately — each says he has found accommodations downtown — and are required to wear electronic monitoring devices and travel only within the Southern District of Texas.

Darby did receive approval from the judge to travel with his wife and children to Corpus Christi.

Bermingham, Darby and Mulgrew were executives with Greenwich NatWest, a finance division of London's National Westminster Bank, now the Royal Bank of Scotland. Each faces seven counts of wire fraud.

The men have denied the charges and have argued that a trial should be held in England because the only victim of their alleged crime, their former employer National Westminster Bank, is based there.